The present invention relates to apparatus for feeding web material into the inlet of a bale chamber of a large round baler for wrapping a cylindrical bale formed in the chamber and more specifically relates to structure for guiding such material beneath a discharge gate portion of an expansible bale chamber defined by a plurality of belts mounted side-by-side on fixed and movable rolls arranged to define a crop inlet forwardly of a run of the belts extending between lower rear and front fixed rolls carried by the discharge gate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,046 issued to Verhulst et al on 30 June 30 1987 discloses a web material feeding apparatus of the type to which the present invention pertains. In the patented design, the guiding structure includes a sheet metal pan mounted beneath and in engagement with the run of belts extending between the lower rear and front rolls carried by the discharge gate so that when an end of a roll of web material is fed to a pinch point formed between the run of belts and the guide pan at a location adjacent the lower rear roll, the belts engage and carry the material forwardly along the surface of the guide pan. The guide pan terminates rearwardly of the lower front belt support roll and a plurality of guide fingers are supported at the forward end of the pan, occupy gaps between adjacent belts and are curved about the front support roll so as to guide the web of wrap material into the bale chamber inlet and to serve as belt guides.
It has been found that the guide pan does not function entirely satisfactorily since crop materials tend to accumulate on the pan and sometimes impede the movement of the web of wrap material to the bale chamber inlet to the extent that the wrap material bunches up on the pan and requires the baler to be stopped to clean the accumulation of crop material off the pan and to straighten out the accumulation of wrap material.
Another problem with the guide pan is that it obstructs the view of the gaps between adjacent belts of the run of belts extending between the lower rear and front belt support rolls, and hence is an impediment to one trying to determine whether an adjustment needs to be made to the lower rear roll to make the belts track in a more centered fashion across the lower front roll.